Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

Latest Episodes:

Episode 351 - Lucille Fletcher Aug 24, 2023

Show notes

Lucille Fletcher penned some of the best old time radio thrillers of all time - stories that can still keep listeners on the edge of their seats over eighty years later. She wrote "Sorry, Wrong Number," "The Hitch-hiker," and many more episodes that rank among the best of Suspense. We'll hear Mildred Natwick starring in a tale of a boarding house with a ghostly new tenant in "The Furnished Floor" (originally aired on CBS on September 13, 1945). Then, a woman is convinced her mother's killer has escaped prison and is out to kill her next in "The Night Man" (originally aired on CBS on October 23, 1960). Plus, we'll hear some of her non-Suspense shows: "Carmilla," an adaptation of a pre-Dracula vampire tale from The Columbia Workshop (originally aired on CBS on July 28, 1940), and "Bela Boczniak's Bad Dreams," a story of a man haunted by nightmares in his waking life from The Clock (originally aired on ABC on April 25, 1948).

BONUS - Alfred Hitchcock (Part 6) Aug 23, 2023

Show notes

It's our annual (belated) birthday tribute to the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. This year, it's a double feature of Hitchcock pictures recreated for radio. Joseph Cotten stars in adaptations of Foreign Correspondent and Shadow of a Doubt from Academy Award (originally aired on CBS on July 24 and September 11, 1946).

Episode 350 - Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, & Robert Ryan Aug 10, 2023

Show notes

For the 350th episode of Stars of Suspense, we'll hear a recreation of the film noir classic Crossfire for "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" with its original stars Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, and Robert Ryan. A man is murdered, and a homicide detective and an Army sergeant conduct parallel investigations to figure out whodunnit. This sixty-minute adaptation originally aired on CBS on April 5, 1948.

Episode 349 - Agnes Moorehead (Part 10) Aug 07, 2023

Show notes

The "First Lady of Suspense" is back, and she becomes the inaugural member of our "ten-timer's club." We'll hear her as an artist haunted by the same gruesome image in "Death and Miss Turner" (originally aired on CBS on May 19, 1957). Then she's a woman plagued by a sinister unseen force in an adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" (originally aired on CBS on June 30, 1957). And finally, she selects the wrong recipient for a chain letter - with deadly results - in "The Chain" (originally aired on CBS on March 9, 1958).

BONUS - Best of Charles Laughton Aug 04, 2023

Show notes

NOTE: Due to some technical issues, this episode meant for July 28th isn't being uploaded until today. Sorry for the delay!

In this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite Suspense shows starring Academy Award-winner Charles Laughton. One of the most frequent guests on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills," Laughton made ten visits to the program and his appearances rank among some of the series' best. First, he co-stars with his wife Elsa Lanchester in an adaptation of Agatha Christie's "The ABC Murders" (originally aired on CBS on May 18, 1943). Next, in "Wet Saturday," he's a wealthy patriarch whose weekend is ruined when his daughter bashes her ex-lover's head in (originally aired on CBS on December 16, 1943). Laughton meets a man who may have invented a way to get away with murder in "The Man Who Knew How" (originally aired on CBS on August 10, 1944) and he plays one of history's most notorious killers in "Neil Cream, Doctor of Poison" (originally aired on CBS on September 17, 1951).

BONUS - Remembering Tony Bennett Jul 28, 2023

Show notes

In this special bonus show, we salute the late, great Tony Bennett with one of the legendary crooner's old time radio appearances. In this May 9, 1954 episode of Guest Star, Bennett promotes savings bonds and sings "Cheek to Cheek" and Hank Williams' "There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight."

Episode 348 - Reginald Gardiner Jul 28, 2023

Show notes

Stage star, screen actor, and train imitator - no, really - Reginald Gardiner was an in-demand comedy star in the 1940s. He appeared alongside Charlie Chaplin and Barbara Stanwyck, and he memorably impersonated train engines for a royal audience at Buckingham Palace. We'll hear him in a murder mystery on an ocean liner with Olivia de Havilland in "Voyage Through Darkness" (originally aired on CBS on September 7, 1944). Then, he's haunted by music and plagued by deadly delusions of grandeur in "The Merry Widower" (originally aired on CBS on October 12, 1944). Plus, Gardiner plays a debonair detective in the audition recording for the comedy-mystery The Gentleman.

Episode 347 - John Dehner (Part 2) Jul 20, 2023

Show notes

Veteran radio actor and superb character actor John Dehner returns to the podcast to star in a pair of thrillers. First, he's a doctor who arrogantly believes he cannot be murdered and devises an experiment to put his theories to the ultimate test in "The Last Letter of Dr. Bronson" (originally aired on CBS on November 4, 1954). Then, Dehner is plagued by recurring dreams of Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, and their infamous duel in "A Friend to Alexander" (originally aired on CBS on August 15, 1956). Finally, we'll hear Dehner as Paladin in the radio version of the hit TV western Have Gun - Will Travel. He plays the cultured gunfighter in "A Matter of Ethics" (originally aired on CBS on February 1, 1959).

BONUS - Charlton Heston Jul 15, 2023

Show notes

In this bonus episode, we're celebrating the return of one of the greatest heroes of the movies with a film that inspired his creation. Charlton Heston - who unfortunately never made it to Suspense - recreates his role as rogue adventurer Harry Steele (a direct inspiration for the character of Indiana Jones) in Secret of the Incas on The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on NBC on December 14, 1954).

Episode 346 - George Murphy Jul 13, 2023

Show notes

George Murphy went from singing and dancing in movie musicals to the floor of the US Senate. Murphy retired from Hollywood in 1952 and was elected to a single term as one of California's senators in 1964. We'll hear two of his pre-politics performances from Suspense; first, he's a hit and run driver with an uncooperative eyewitness in "Death on Highway 99" (originally aired on CBS on October 4, 1945). Then, Murphy is a lumberjack who may be marked for death in the remote woods in "The Death of Me" (originally aired on CBS on May 26, 1952).

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